中国遭遇50年来最严重的旱灾
China faces its worst drought in 50 years
英国《金融时报》 何丽 北京报道
字号
背景
中文评论[7条]打印电邮收藏腾讯微博新浪微博
Chinese authorities will step up the release of water from the Three Gorges Dam in a bid to tackle a drought in southern China that has put pressure on drinking water, crops, shipping lanes and electricity production in what is traditionally China’s most water- abundant region.
The monsoon rains that usually flood southern China’s middle Yangtze river in spring did not come this year, and officials say rainfall in Hubei, Jiangxi, Anhui, Jiangsu and Zhejiang is at its lowest level in more than 50 years.
“Such large-scale scarcity in southern China is very serious and the scale is much larger than before,” said Zhang Ximing, a water resources specialist at the World Bank who recently returned from drought-stricken Jiangxi.
While droughts are not uncommon in China, water shortages have steadily worsened during the past decade, as increased agricultural irrigation and worsening water contamination have hit supplies. China’s available water per capita is just a quarter of the world average and the lowest of any large economy, according to the World Bank.
Water releases from the Three Gorges reservoir, which is upstream from the drought areas, will be increased by 10-20 per cent today, according to the State Flood Control and Drought Relief Office.
Water has already been released at a rate of 10,000 cubic metres a second since last Friday, causing the level of the reservoir to fall by one metre every two days, say dam operators.
大坝管理方表示，从上周五起，三峡水库已经在以每秒1万立方米的速度泄水，水库水位每两天就降低1米。
In Hubei and Hunan provinces, the drought has threatened drinking supplies for more than 1m people. In neighbouring Jiangxi province, Poyang Lake, China’s largest freshwater lake, is at a 59-year low and rice transplants around it have stopped.
Bulk shipping carriers were banned on May 11 from using a 228km stretch of the Yangtze because of low water levels.
一段228公里长的长江支流因水位过低，从5月11日起禁止散装船通行。
“It rings a big alarm bell when the Yangtze itself is facing drought,” says Ma Jun, an environmental activist and author of China’s Water Crisis. “The total population supported by this river basin is around 400m people – it’s the most important watershed in China.”
Government drought relief programmes have brought in water carriers, pumps and generators to parts of Hunan and Hubei provinces, which lie at the heart of China’s rice- growing region.
政府抗旱计划向湖南湖北部分地区输送了载水车、水泵和发电机，这两省是中国水稻种植区的腹地。
The state’s efforts have even included cloud seeding to induce rain artificially, which resulted in light rainfall in some parts of Hubei province over the weekend.
政府甚至动用了云种散播人工催雨的手段，在周末期间为湖北局部地区带来了少量降雨。
“Lots of villagers don’t have water to drink,” Chen Tianlin, a rice farmer in Jielin village, Hubei province, told the Financial Times.
在湖北的一个村庄，种植水稻的农民陈天林（音译）告诉英国《金融时报》：“很多村民没水吃。”
He has to travel for 40 minutes by tractor over steep mountain roads to buy water in a neighbouring village. “It hasn’t rained for six months,” he sighs. “All the rice fields have dried up.”
Lake systems around the central Yangtze river have also dried up. In Hubei province, 1,400 small lakes have become so shrivelled that authorities have declared them “dead” and banned water pumping, state media reported.
“Human activities have intensified the drought [in Hubei],” says Guo Qinghan, an economics professor at the Hubei Academy of Social Sciences.
“人类活动加重了（湖北的）旱情。”湖北省社会科学院经济学教授郭庆汉表示。
“Because of improper developments like land reclamation and soil erosion, some lakes are as shallow as dinner plates.”
“由于土地复垦和土壤侵蚀等不当开发，一些湖泊浅得就像餐盘一样。”
Min Qian, director of the Jiangxi water and sand department near Poyang Lake, said this year’s drought was the worst he had seen and would hinder rice planting and fish spawning. “When I was a child, we never heard of the words ‘spring drought’. It was quite rare,” Mr Min says.
Despite localised drought, China’s farms are still expected to report a bumper harvest of wheat and rice this year, according to the China National Grain and Oils Information Center.
中国国家粮油信息中心(China National Grain and Oils Information Center)表示，尽管局部地区发生旱灾，但预计今年中国小麦和大米仍将大丰收。
However, analysts believe concerns over water scarcity could prompt the government to raise water tariffs.
